Good news! Firm Web Design and Treasurion.com are now accepting Bitcoin. This article is for you if you are new to Bitcoin and would like to know what it is, or you are a casual Bitcoin user and would like to learn a bit more. Since introducing Bitcoin to our site, I’ve had a number…
Tourmaline Guide Tourmaline is a crystal boron silicate mineral. There are 27 members in the group as recognised by International Mineralogical Association but only 2 are normally used as gems. Crystallised in the trigonal system, the typical appearance is a three sided prismatic crystal with either flat or hemimorphic terminations. Prism faces often show striations…
Spessartite Garnet Guide Spessartite garnet variety is distinguished by its vivid orange fire. The most prized stones are pure medium orange, sometimes described as “fanta” or “mandarine” but as with other garnet subspecies, there are a lot of Spessartites that contain molecules appropriate to different species of garnets. As a result there are many stones…
Opal Care Opal care is an interesting subject. Opals are like all gemstones, they have special care requirements although usually their owners do not pay attention to this. Some gems, such as pearls are extremely sensitive- even mild acids like vinegar can damage them. Others, like diamonds, are a symbol of resilience when in…
Opals at the Munich Show In Europe, Germany is traditionally viewed as a strong market for Opals, no wonder then, that the Munich Show had a great variety of them. Most of the stands were located in the Mineralworld, usually divided by the locality, with vendors specialising in Australian, Mexican or Welo stones.…
Munich Mineral Show 2012 Between 26/10 and 28/10 we had a pleasure of visiting Munich Mineral Show 2012, one of Europe’s biggest events of this type. This year it hosted over 1250 exhibitors from 63 countries in four gigantic halls, housing four basic themes, plus public exhibitions. Friday 26/10 was a business only day…
Welo Opal – deposits, extraction methods and material characteristics Welo opal rough with digit patterns. Gemmology is an exciting discipline, especially in those days when so many new varieties of gems are found all over the world. One of those newly discovered stones is Welo opal. It appeared in 2008 near…
Opal Photography Taking good opal pictures is not an easy task,where most gems express their beauty through uniform body colour, same from every direction, opals appearance differs considerably, depending on viewer and light source respectable position and even the type of illumination used. Play of colour that gives opal the originality makes it hard…
